National Gallery and Abbey Theatre

Thursday October 3 was much warmer (high of 15C), but it rained on and off during the day.  We slept in trying to catch up on our jet lag.  We went for a coffee and a bowl of soup at Laine, my love, a wonderful coffee shop near our apartment.

We then headed down to the centre of the city, taking a different bridge.

We passed a plaque and sculptures marking the 155th the anniversary of the Irish National Flag 

We passed by the present Irish Parliament- Leinster House.

Parliament House since 1922

Our destination was the National Gallery, a beautiful museum.  It opened in 1864.  There was free admission, except for one of the temporary exhibits.

One entrance to the National Gallery

The Gallery houses a number of remarkable European paintings as well as an excellent collection of Irish paintings including a room of works by Irish impressionist Jack B. Yeats, William Butler Yeats younger brother.  Jack Yates (1871-1957) was one of Ireland's most important 20th-century painters.

The Caravaggio, The Taking of Christ (1602) has an incredible story.  It had been lost and was rediscovered in 1990 hanging in a Jesuit house on Leeson Street in Dublin, by Sergio Benedetti, the former Chief Curator (1942-2018) of the National Gallery.

The Taking of Christ 1602

There was also a superb Vermeer- Lady Writing a Letter with Her Maid.  The painting had been stolen by the IRA in 1974 from Russborough House, the home of Sir Alfred Beit (1903-1994) in County Wicklow, Ireland.  Beit was a British Conservative party politician, art collection and honorary Irish citizen).  The IRA intended to hold the paintings for ransom in exchange for the transfer of Dolours Price and Marian Price, IRA members who had been convicted of car-bombings in England.  However, all the stolen paintings were recovered eight days later in a cottage in County Cork.  The painting was stolen again in 1986 by a gang led by a Dublin gangster.  It was held for ransom, which was not paid.  It was eventually recovered in an August 1993 exchange at the Antwerp airport which turned out to be a sting operation by the Irish police.  It had already been donated in absentia to the National Gallery in Dublin.  WOW!

Lady Writing a Letter with Her Maid (1670-71)

One highlight of our visit, was the temporary exhibit- Bauhaus 100: The Print Portfolios.  The exhibit featured a complete set of four Bauhaus portfolios of prints on loan from the Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart.  The portfolios contain 52 woodcuts, etchings, lithographs and linocuts.  The exhibit celebrates the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Bauhaus.  The exhibit featured some of the best prints by artists including George Grosz, Paul Klee, Franz Marc, Marc Chagall, Natalia Goncharova and Wassily Kandinsky.  

The motto of the Bauhaus was to "Rethink the World" through art and design.  The printing workshop was the first functional department of the Bauhaus school.  It embarked on a programme of producing five portfolios of New European Graphics for sale.  They were printed between 1922-24.   Four of the Five portfolios were produced.  Unfortunately, given the runaway inflation of the early 1920s. the art market collapsed and the project did not even cover its production costs.  The completed portfolios featured I Bauhaus Masters; III and V German artists; and IV Italian and Russian artists.  The uncompleted portfolio II was to contain works of French artists.  All the artists had donated their works.

Photography was not allowed.  

Poster for the exhibit

A number of the prints (pic from internet)- Natalia Goncharova-Female Half Figure, Paul Klee- The Saint of Inner Light and Oskar Schlemmer's Concentric Group

Franz Marc, Genesis I ( from the internet)

A wonderful Kandinsky print (from internet)

We then visited the galleries with Irish Art.

Edwin Hayes (1819-1904) An Emigrant Ship, Dublin Bay, Sunset 1853)

Harry Aaron Kernoff (1900-1974) Davy Byrne's Pub, Dublin, from the Bailey 1941

Seán Keating (1889-1977) An Allegory 1924-- painted in the wake of the Civil War

Jack B. Years was the younger brother of poet William Butler Yeats and son of portrait painter John Yeats.  His early paintings were very realistic and provide an invaluable social record of the times.  He altered his style radically in the late 1920s, showing a greater interest in the expressive qualities of colour.  There were many wonderful paintings in the room dedicated to his work.

Jack B. Yeats (1871-1957) No Flowers 1945

Jack B. Yeats- The Liffey Swim 1923 - part of Dublin's annual sporting calendar

Jack B. Years- Bachelor's Walk, In Memory 1925-- On June 26, 1914, Irish Volunteers took delivery of German rifles just north of Dublin.  The unloading of the guns attacked a crowd and there was an incident involving soldiers returning to their barracks and civilians gathering on the quays.  Four people were killed and 30 injured.

Jack B. Yeats  The Singing Horseman 1949

We stopped for a light dinner at Coppinger Row.  We shared a few appetizers and a salad.

Then it was on to the Abbey Theatre to see Last Orders at the Dockside by Dermot Bolger, a wonderful play set in 1980 Dublin about the changing life of the men who worked on the docks and their families.  We are very fortunate that the annual Dublin Theatre Festival is on.  It was established in 1957 and features 18 days of Irish and International Theatre.  A few of the productions had already been sold out.

The Abbey Theatre, also known as the National Theatre of Ireland, opened in 1904.   It lost its original building to a fire in 1951.  It was the first state-subsidised theatre in the English-speaking world.  From 1925 onwards, it received an annual subsidy from the Irish Free State.  It has been at its present location since July 1966.  In its early years, the theatre was closely associated with the writers of the Irish Literary Revival.  

Outside the Abbey Theatre

Plaque in the theatre commemorating actors, playwrights and staff of the Abbey Theatre
who participated in the Easter Rising of 2016.

Set for Last Orders at the Dockside

The play featured live music and was set in the Dockside pub.  The production and acting was excellent.  Our apartment is only about a 10 minute walk from the theatre.  A great day in Dublin.